L. (Lyman) Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) is best known as the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He was born into a family of means in Chittenango, New York and raised at Rose Lawn, the family estate.  His early interest in writing was encouraged when his father bought him a printing press, and he and his younger brother Harry wrote and published produced several journals. 

Baum had a flair for the theatre. His father established a theatre in 1880 in Richburg, NY, where he wrote, produced and appeared in numerous productions with modest success. In 1882 he married Maud Gage, daughter of prominent suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. After the theatre was destroyed by fire, he and his wife moved to South Dakota and opened a dry goods store, which went bankrupt. He then worked for newspapers, first in Aberdeen, SD, then moving to Chicago in 1891. In 1897 he wrote Mother Goose in Prose, with illustrations by the Maxfield Parrish, which became a moderate success. He followed in 1899 with Father Goose, His Book, with illustrations by W.W. Denslow, which became the best-selling children’s book of the year. Baum and Denslow followed with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, which was an immediate hit. 

With the success of Oz Baum moved to Hollywood and produced thirteen additional Oz novels with John R. Neill as illustrator. He wrote nine other fantasy novels and numerous other works – 55 novels in all, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and an unknown number of scripts. In 1905 he made plans for an Oz amusement park which never came to pass. In 1914 he founded the Oz Film Manufacturing Company, but failed to achieve success with films made for a largely non-existent children’s audience.

Baum was deeply influenced by the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, and hoped to develop a uniquely American mythology. The ideas in the Oz books show his imagination and vision, anticipating such things as television, computers, wireless telephones, and augmented reality. His business instincts for theatre, film, and theme park were equally visionary.